"You have fought under the eyes of your august Czar and your chivalrous Commander-in-Chief, H.I.H. the Grand Duke Nicholas. They have both been witnesses of your heroic courage, and there is no need for me to add my praise to theirs. "You have set a shining example of valour and the highest military virtues to my young Roumanian army. The glorious Imperial army has become united with my troops by an irrefragable bond of friendship, and I hope that you will preserve the same friendly remembrance of your Roumanian brothers-in-arms as they will of you. "I lay down my command with regret, and it is my most fervent wish on taking leave of you that in your future struggles for our holy cause you may achieve as glorious successes as in the past. "Therefore let us join once more before we part in that joyous exclamation which springs from your hearts: Long life to his Majesty the Czar!" The Emperor Alexander sent the following official letter to Prince Charles, dated 1/13 December, 1877: "After a resistance of five months, the combined efforts of our allied troops have been crowned with complete success. The army of Osman Pacha has laid down its arms and Plevna has fallen. Desirous of consecrating the memory of this great success, and the personal part your Highness has had in it, I take pleasure in conferring on your Highness on this occasion my Order of St. Andreas with swords. I beg your Highness to accept the insignia as a mark of my sincere affection, the expression of which I renew. "ALEXANDER." On December 5, the Grand Duke Nicholas issued an Order of the Day in which occurs the following passage: "... In prescribing the dissolution of the corps in question I consider I ought to express my sincere gratitude to its chief, his Highness Prince Charles of Roumania, who, since August 17, has commanded the allied troops forming in the first instance the Army of the West, and later on the Corps of Investment. Thanks to his exceptional activity his Highness was able to establish the most complete cohesion between the Russian and Roumanian troops, to form them into one homogeneous body, and to direct their efforts in conformity with my prescriptions towards the final aim which has so brilliantly crowned the common task (_l'œuvre commune_)...." His Imperial Highness forwarded this document to Prince Charles, together with a letter which contained a warm tribute to Prince Charles and the Roumanian army: "The brilliant results which have just been obtained before Plevna are in a great measure due to the co-operation of the brave Roumanian army, as well as to the impulse which the allied troops received from their immediate commander, whose activity, courage, and devotion to his soldierly duties they admired and strove to imitate."